1/48 Amtech P-40 L ”Lighthouse Louie” 325th FG Tunisia (57 posts)

Since I was spraying some red on some other planes that are currently on the work bench, I sprayed some parts for both P-40’s.

The AMT “short tailed F” kit instructions called for the spinner to be white………….. but I haven’t found a picture of a P-40 in North Africa that had a white spinner……………. Then I thought why is this ?????

The most obvious reason I could think of is this: The Luftwaffe used white as a recognition feature on the nose, tail, and under the wings on planes used in North Africa and the Mediterranean Area of Operations, which the Allies called the “MTO” . So it probably would not be too wise to have white on an Allied plane.

So I followed the decal instructions for “Light House Louie” and painted both spinners red. Most of the RAF planes used red as a recognition feature, and since the short tailed P-40 I’m building was “attached” the RAF, I figured “why not” ???

Here are both spinners, along with the wheels for one plane painted in “Insignia Red” …………

OK. it’s been a very busy day at the “Iron Works” so I’m calling it for now…………

Tonight was a decent night at the Iron Works. I managed to get the short tailed P-40F up on it’s legs and feet…………. plus I painted a bunch of tail wheels on my F6F Hellcats that are in the “Year of the Cat” GB.

I also painted the wing guns and wheel wells / gear doors.

and touched up the exhaust. Then I installed the prop.

All that’s left on this one is the pitot tube, antennae wire and some decals, then a little weathering. I hope to have it done soon.

If I didn’t cut the nose on “Light House Louie”, it may very well be this far along too. But I still have some sanding and filling to do before we get there. The resin nose looks good though. It’s just a matter of additional work to get it there after the surgery.

Nice job Louis, and I saw where you wanted to paint the checker board pattern on the long tail F. If you change your mind I have the checker board decals for that kit if you need them in my stash. Let me know buddy.

Yep – love that scheme. Probably one of my favorite builds this year (at least I think it was this year…) was a P-40N in desert scheme. Something about that light skin on the old workhorse that is just a great combination!

Good news. The short tail F is pretty much done. Here’s a few pictures of it before the final bits will be added, and the canopy masking is removed.

In these photos the dull coat is still wet. It eventually turned out nicely and has a flat finish.

I did some research online and I was not able to find a single picture of this actual plane. I found several photos of planes from the same unit, but sadly nothing of this particular P-40. So that means I have to hope that the manufacturer got it right when they did their research. If not it won’t be the first time I find out an error after the build is completed.

One thing I did notice from the photos was the “U.S. ARMY” letters occasionally found on the undersurface of the wings were missing from the kit decals. They were not even mentioned in the instructions or supplied as part of the kit decals, which these are by the way……… In their defense, had I not been looking for them in the pictures I found, I probably would not have noticed them either.

Every photo I found from this unit had the lettering present under the wings.

So I scrounged the decals from the spares and here’s how they look.

The pitot tube, landing light, and antenna wire still have to be installed.

The next time you see it will be during the reveal.

I have one more P-40 to complete and this build journal will be completed.

Thanks guys………….. Tonight I gave it another coat of Dull Coat to the undersides, since I wasn’t happy with how the “US ARMY” lettering appeared. This last coat helped to make the lettering appear painted on. I know I wasn’t going to post another picture, but I couldn’t help it………………….